Response of CH4 emission of paddy fields to land management practices at a microcosmic cultivation scale in China.

The terrestrial ecosystem may be either a source or a sink of CH4 in rice paddies, depending, to a great extent, on the change of ecosystem types and land use patterns. CH4 emission fluxes from paddy fields under 4 cultivation patterns (conventional plain culture of rice (T1), no-tillage and ridge culture of rice (T2), no-tillage and ridge culture of rice and wheat (T3), and rice-wheat rotation (T4)) were measured with the closed chamber technique in 1996 and 1998 in Chongqing, China. The results showed that differences existed in CH4 emission from paddy fields under these land management practices.